Suhaib Jassim-Jakarta
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who is sworn in for a second term, is awaiting a series of challenges, the most serious of which are the country's territorial integrity, growing debt and slowing economic growth.
The most recent challenge facing the famous President Jockey in his second five-year term is the rise of the separatist movement in the province of Papua and West Papua.
The separatist advocacy is active through the United Movement for the Liberation of West Papua (ULIMO) outside the country, and through its local arm, the National Organization for West Papua (PNI), and the so-called Papua Independence Organization, which calls for a referendum to decide the fate of Papua, which finds support in Western countries .
This represents the most serious threat to the country's unity in 15 years, since the separatist armed conflict in Aceh ended in the 2004 tsunami, and Papua is more serious than Aceh, with Papua and West Papua accounting for about 22 percent of the country.
Papua leaders and other civil society organizations and organizations across Indonesia are calling on the government to quickly contain tension in Papua, which has seen sporadic violence and riots over the past two months that has killed dozens and burned houses and buildings in several towns.
| Leaders of separatist movement in West Papua find Western voices supporting them (Reuters) |
Jockey's economic challenge is no less serious than the preservation of territorial integrity, with IMF forecasts last week suggesting a 5% drop in GDP growth next year.
Vice President Yusuf Kalla, who ended his term yesterday, said the hardest economic growth for President Jockey during his second term, noting that the indicators of the global economy and the trade war between the United States and China and tensions in the Arab world push him to pessimistic future economic growth in his country.
Related to the figures released by the Central Bank last month, which indicates that the external debt rose to an unprecedented level, reaching 395.3 billion US dollars by mid-July, almost half of the government debt ($ 194.5 billion) and the rest of the loans to the private sector, representing 36.2% of GDP.
| The length of the drought helped to ignite forest fires (Anatolia) |
Drought and fires
There are environmental issues affecting tens of millions of Indonesians, most notably the drought due to the scarcity of rain that led to the scarcity of water in many provinces, with the prolongation of this year's dry season for nearly six months in a precedent not seen in many years.
This led to the ease of arson or arson for commercial and productive purposes on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, devouring up to 328 thousand hectares, according to the National Committee to deal with the effects of disasters.
Environmental activists, including those working for the Wahi Organization for Environmental Protection, report that the burning of forests was later linked to palm plantations, which contributed to a good financial return for their owners, but that environmental pollution, high temperatures and drying of groundwater sources for rural residents surrounding farms Palm oil.
With the president announcing his intention to relocate the capital from Jakarta to eastern Kalimantan island, environmental organizations have raised many questions about how to preserve the environment when constructing the new capital, and how it could hurt green areas in two eastern provinces like Kalimantan.
| Side of the student demonstrations (Anatolia) |
Corruption
The demands of the student movement have been growing in recent weeks - the most prominent in nearly two decades - for a presidential decree repealing or amending the amended anti-corruption law passed at the end of the previous legislative session last month, which student movement leaders and legal experts describe as weakening the role of the anti-corruption body.
Cases of financial and administrative corruption among local officials - provincial governors, governors, city governors, legislators, etc. - have risen from 62 in 2015 to 260 last year, and about 60 in the first half of this year.
In an interview last week, the Civil Society Alliance issued a warning warning that Indonesian democracy "has witnessed in the past five years of the Jokoi era the consolidation of the power of the wealthy minority influential in state administration and the electoral process."
The coalition criticized the current election law, as well as "the violence that has been met by journalists or critical opinion, and the efforts of parliament and the current government to amend the constitution to reinstate what is known as the orientations of the state."